Rebuilding Canal Bulkheads in Amsterdam’s Historic District with Pressed-In Pipe Piles

Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, has just started a comprehensive canal quay wall renovation in order to cope with deterioration and sporadic but increasing failure of their extensive canal system. The pressed-in pipe pile quay wall was built as a pilot quay wall renovation project to prove the method’s speedy, economic, and environmental advantages after it was selected out of various alternative construction methods. The project installed 272 508-mm diameter pipe piles by rotating and simultaneously pressing them into the existing quay wall structure. The toe of each new pipe pile was equipped with a cutting shoe to be able to cut through the existing structures and the ground. The piling machine and the other auxiliary equipment, except a conventional support crane, were electrically powered for the goal of less emissions of carbon dioxide. Along the canal was a narrow roadway with a line of tall trees and densely built mid-rise residential/commercial buildings which required careful construction planning and execution.